Porsche 944 Turbo headlight upgrade

[motorscuba]

I've searched the forum for information on headlight upgrades for a 1987 944 Turbo and couldn't find much and the links that I saw were dated an inactive. Does anyone have any current info on products to use and weather or not this is even possible due to wiring issues etc.

Thanks!!

[kdjones2000]

I put a set of HID's in my 924S race car for our upcoming 24 hour race at Buttonwillow. I just bought a set off of fleabay for like $80, and they came with the H4 lenses and the HID lights/power packs.

For the very limited testing I have done so far they seem to work fine, and are much brighter than the 50W halogens that were on it. The HID's actually draw LESS current than the halogens, so I didn't change any of the wiring.

[87m491]

HIDs are probably preferred to day but it is very easy to drop in some Hella lamps with replaceable H4 bulbs of higher wattage. Drop in a few relays and your lighting should be much better.

[9FF]

FYI Theres a sticky post at the top of this forum with a link to a post all about headlight upgrades.

[motorscuba]

Thanks for the info guys. So the HID's shouldn't cause any wiring issues because it's actually less wattage than the stock bulbs but with the Hella bulbs would they be a problem down the road for the wiring? I'm going to,check that stick post also to see if the answer is there.

[DannoXYZ]

Couple issues with the factory lights:

• ALL power goes through the light-switch on dash. The power travels through A LOT of wiring and by the time it arrives at the headlights, the incredible amounts of resistance drops voltage from 13v down to 9-11v. This decreases your output by -30-50%.
  
• alternator & VRM may not be fully up to spec and putting out full-power

To rectify these issues, you can do the following:

1. Replace VRM in alternator with Transpo # IB372A. This is a drop-in replacement for factory unit, and has the advantage of being adjustable. With usual wear & tear, the alternator may not be putting out as much power as brand-new, the adjustable VRM will let you extract the most out of it. Adjust to get 13.5v at the battery. This will maximize power out going to the headlights.
   
2. Upgrade headlight wiring harness. Build your own headlight power wire-harness and take +power directly from the alternator. Feed this to relays to power the headlights (space beneath where intake-snorkel goes through fender is a good spot for the relays). Use the factory headlight-circuit to activate the relays. Wire an additional ground-wire from the headlights/relays to the front of the block. This will give a more direct and shorter path to battery -negative than going through the body of the car. Think quality & durability when building this, so in addition to crimping the terminals, solder them as well. Seal the wire-ends to prevent moisture-corrosion and shrink-wrap it.
   
3. Use H4 ecode headlights. I've used both the Hella and Cibie H4 ecode lights. While both are significantly better than stock in light-distribution and cut-off, the Cibie are as big of a bump over the Hellas as the Hellas are over the stock lights. Most vendors have them for $90-125 each. But you can get some Indian-made copies here: NeoLight H4 7" Round Headlamp.

With the sharper cut-off, you can get away with higher-power bulbs and not have as much glare as stock. The Iceshark kits came with Narva 90/100w bulbs and with the wiring-upgrade, can put out over 3-5x as much light on the road as the stock configuration. Can't find those bulbs easily, so I prefer to use 70/75w or 80/100w H4 bulbs (no tint allowed). Anything higher ends up sacrificing bulb-life too much.

[TheRedSlantnose]

You can do a fixed-light conversion as an option.

[Xaerran]

Originally Posted by TheRedSlantnose

You can do a fixed-light conversion as an option.

Have any info on how or options?

[motorscuba]

Sorry for being out of touch for a while. Danno...that's a pretty involved upgrade but I guess you can't just go straight to the ecodes without doing the other items first. I'll talk to my mechanic about this conversion. Thanks.

Redslantnose....can you give some more info on the fixed-light conversion?

[nize]

iceshark used to be the best lighting available for the 944/951. i haven't been researching lighting lately though.

[DannoXYZ]

Sorry for being out of touch for a while. Danno...that's a pretty involved upgrade but I guess you can't just go straight to the ecodes without doing the other items first. I'll talk to my mechanic about this conversion. Thanks.<br>
<br>
Redslantnose....can you give some more info on the fixed-light conversion?

look up GT Racing for fixed-headlight conversions. Other DYI kits available as well. They use rectangular H4 headlights instead of round ones.

Problem with HID in H4 housings is the filament alignment don't match and you end with a lot of glare. Search for "Daniel Stern" and you'll get a to be of tech info on headlights and upgrades.

[bjd8386]

If you're looking for fixed headlights, I'd recommend 924-76's setup:

New GTS headlight conversion kit available soon.

I've got a set I've yet to install and its of good quality.